Native American Books

I have been to the author's website many times, and liked it. The book has lots more information than the website, which is massive. It is interesting to read about so many of these events. Most of the descriptions are short, but considering there must be over 5,000 events, that is understandable.

There are quite a mix of illustrations that match an event on their page.

The sections on the tribal name meanings and the Indian "moons" was both fascinating, and fun.

The index is one of the most comprehensive I have ever seen.

This Day In North American Indian History: Important Dates In The History Of North America's Native Peoples For Every Calendar Day by Phil Konstantin (freelance writer and member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) is a unique and original historical reference. For each day of the calendar year, a momentous or significant occasion in Native American history is listed which occurred on that same day. Spanning over 500 years of recorded Native American culture, war, law, and societal change, This Day In North American Indian History is enhanced with a handful of black-and-white photographs, an extensive index, a bibliography, and three extended appendices (Tribal Names; Alternative Tribal Names; North American Indian Calendars). A meticulously compiled and "reader friendly" reference, This Day In North American Indian History is enthusiastically recommended as an informed and informative addition to any personal, academic, and community library Native American Studies collection.

I have been to the author's website many times. Having all of this information in one place is great. Yes, yes, yes, there is information on events in Canada. There are about 100 photos and they are matched to an event on the page where they appear. I really like the sections in the back which list tribal name meanings (Erie = cat people) and the "moon" names. If you are interested in North American Indian history, this is a great book.

This Day in American Indian History by Phil Konstantin is a fascinating resource for everyone interested in North American Indians. I think it would be especially useful for educators who want to include American Indian History in the classroom, but fear they have neither the time nor the resources to do it. Taking five minutes to select and read one event a day the class is a good way to raise awareness, open minds, and start discussions.

As the co-author of a reference book, American Indian Contributions to the World, I've learned to be very selective about the books I keep in my library. Phil has come up with an accurate and interesting volume that is filled with teachable moments. I couldn't put it down. This one is definitely a keeper.

This is a beautiful children's book. The illustrations are beautiful to go along with the story. It is to be shared with all! Enjoy!

This book is lyrical and delicious. The watercolors are vibrant and gorgeous. This is a must buy, along with two other books, Drum, Chavi, Drum! by Cuban author, Mayra L. Dole, and Trinos Choice, by Chicano author, Diane Gonzales Bertrand.

This book talks about the world view of an American Indian child - talking about their house, their yard, their pets, their world. The watercolors are colorful and light. The book is beautifully printed and is a precious item to own. For parents interested in introducing their children to various points of view this is perfect.

The Governor, Janet Napolitano, arranged a deal with private industry in order to give a copy of this book to every 1st grader in AZ public schools. This should speak for itself about the quality of the book.

I highly recommend this book. It has opened a door for me. I need to read more about native people and their relationships to Africans. The story of the Shoeboot family is very interesting.

I use to be annoyed with obviously African looking folks proclaiming to have "some Indian in me", though these same people never claim such pride in being of AFrican descent. They still annoy me. I do think it has it basic in self hatred. However, this is my humble opinion.

First, let me say how much I enjoyed this book. It is a work of tremendous research informed by a mature mind which deeply understands the roles of history and story in creating self-identity.

I was alerted to its existence by Ilene Shepard Smiddy, author of DAUGHTER OF SHILOH, also a splendid narrative/adventure retelling a part of the Shoeboots story, but centering on Clarinda Allington and her children.

Dr. Miles provides us with a helpful family tree in the front of the book, and inside there are maps that help orient the story. The historical asides and reflections using Toni Morrison's BELOVED are treasures. Inside too are several illustrations and pictures, including one of a Shoeboots descendant. The text is divided into logical chapters. The notes are easy to follow and delicious to read, and they are followed by a full bibliography and a comprehensive index.

I would like to see the notes expanded to include the family of Napoleon Bonaparte, perhaps a grandson of Shoeboots, or of one of the Shoeboots, and who entered the mainstream population in Kentucky as a free black.

As Dr. Miles points out, there was more than one individual who was referred to as the Boot or Shoeboots (and other nicknames, in both English and Cherokee), and I suspect that this was a concept name involving the crow or the rooster--the hero of a Cherokee parable. It is fascinating to read about here, and her arguments are engaging. Highly recommended reading!

This book provides excellent insight into a little known part of American history. Few people realize that some American Indian tribes (particularly the "Five Civilized Tribes") practiced slavery and this text delves into the complex relationships resulting from it. The impact of the practice has repercussions still felt today. Most importantly, it reveals the rarely addressed interaction between African-Americans and Native Americans dating back to the earliest history of the United States.

I recently finished reading Tiya Miles' book. Several things impressed me regarding this work; the first one is the topic. I was surprised to learn that at one time Native Americans owned slaves! I am a college educated retired teacher and I believe this is something I should have learned somewhere in my education. I was also impressed with the research that was used as a basis for Ms. Miles' writing. A reader of her work has more than ample supply of resources to use for further reading. I also believe this book should be required reading for any American history curriculum at the college level.

I just found this book recently and discovered it was written by a teacher I had in high school. She was an inspiring and highly creative teacher that made you love what you were learning. I'm so excited to have my children reading books written by a former teacher of mine.
I'm on the hunt to get the rest of her books. Thank you Ms. Vanasse!

As I've often said, what intrigues me most about a book is a "catchy" title and an extremely original storyline. This book has that and much more!

I'm amazed at the simplicity of the plot, but how cute, clever, and creative it is. Who would have thought about the characters carved into a totem pole coming to life and fussing over their order on the pole??? ONLY A CREATIVE, TALENTED AUTHOR ... That's who!

You just HAVE to read this clever book by Deb Vanasse ... and the fabulous art by the equally-talented illustrator is marvelous, too. I understand the illustrator has some books under submission; I hope you get them published, Erik.

Highly recommended!

My 4 year old and I have read this book over and over. The illustrations are wonderful, the concept of a totem pole being based on a story is clear. The totem pole takes itself apart at night and my daughter tries to remember the story the pole is based on in order to put the pole together again in the right order as the sun rises.

Totem Tale: A Tall Story From Alaska by Deb Vanasse combines a lively and original story with skillfully drawn illustrations by Erik Brooks to create the fun tale of a Native American totem pole which comes to life in the beauty of a moon-lit night. Children will follow the adventures of a beaver, an eagle, a bear, a wolf, a raven and a frog through a remarkable journey on one very special night. An engaging picturebook account of cooperation, faithfulness, and helping out a friend in need, Totem Tale is very highly recommended for all young readers, as well as parents and librarians searching for something entertaining and worthwhile for children ages 5 through 8 to read and enjoy.

This book is among my all time favorites in Native American studies. Two Leggings was not the greatest or the most famous of the Crows, but he seemed true to his culture. This gave the book the very rare feel of cultural and spiritual authenticity. Bueno.

If you are interested in learning about spiritual power--sometimes referred to as medicine--amongst the plains Indians, then this book is for you. It discusses Two Leggings search for power through traditional vision quest and his inability to receive anything substantial. Ultimately, he receives something of value extended to him by his father-in-law. Also covered is what happens when a person makes a committment to spirit then dishonors that committment--the colapse and end of Sun Dance for the Crow people until it is returned years later through the Shoshone people.

In 1919, anthropologist William Wildschut, living in Billings, Montana, at the time, befriended Crow Indian chief Two Leggings, who was living along the Bighorn River. Wildschut was interested in gathering Two Leggings's reminiscences. Bringing translators with him, Wildshut met with Two Leggings at his homestead over a lengthy period of time and wrote his memoirs down. The final 480-page manuscript was deposited in the archives of the Museum of the American Indian, where Peter Nabokov discovered it. Nabokov reworked Wildschut's manuscript somewhat, usually tightening up his expansive style, and this is the result.

The most striking thing about these reminiscences is how Two Leggings is not nearly as interested in Indian-white relations as he is with his raiding adventures against other tribes, especially against the Piegans. It seems his whole existence is centered on this activity. Almost equally important are his vision and dream quests; all important decisions are based on what are conjured in dreams and visions. Raiding enemy tribes, gathering coup, stealing horses - all these activities were primary to anyone wishing to be a great warrior chief. Possessing strong medicine that produced powerful visions was also important. Two Leggings relates his story up to about 1888 when the Crows were restricted to their reservation; he concludes, "Nothing happened after that. We just lived. There is nothing more to tell." His memoir is a fascinating one, and one that makes little acknowledgement of or concession to the white man's world.

This book was prepared by Nabokov from notes from interviews between the ethnographer and collector Wildschut and the aged Crow warrior Two Leggings. Those looking for a general account of plains Indian life in the mid to late 19th century may be disappointed. This book deals almost solely with Two Leggings spirtual pursuit of 'power' or 'medicine' to give him success in horse raids. And by extension status within his tribal society. The book highlights the significance of dreams to the Plains Indian and the impact they had on the real world. The book documents Two Leggings various attempts to acquire 'power' through fasting or vision quests and also gives accounts of numerous horse raids he made against his tribal enemies. The end of the days of freedom on the plains and the reservation period are largely ignored for, as far as Two Leggings was concerned, nothing of interest happened after the buffalo disappeared and horse raiding ended.

All in all an excellent book which reveals how the spritual world and warfare were so interwoven in the mind of the Plains Indian.

This is a great story, compellingly told with simplicity and beauty. It also happens to be the best single book I've ever read on "organizational learning."

The "Walking People" left central Asia and walked across an ocean, over to another ocean and back to the great lakes. On their way, they had to learn to deal with an ever changing circumstance, both physical and social. In order to survive, they learned how to learn as a people more and more effectively.

This story deals with issues such as the balance between diversity and unity, how to honor individual styles of learning and use these to help the community, ageism, sexism, racism, cooperation and competition, the balance of long term goals and short term necessities, planning and improvisation, war and peace.

Are you beginning to get the picture? This should be read by everyone, but at least by anyone who teaches or manages people. If a CEO or Senator reads one book in this millennium to prepare for the next, this should be it.

Most of our historical evidence about the lives of our ancestors is in the form of tools, bones, fragments of pottery and cloth, and rock paintings. What was daily life really like before even these artifacts were tools? Perhaps something else did survive . . . In "The Walking People", Paula Underwood presents stories of real events lived by real people from the oral tradition of her people. Not a collection of mythological tales, they cover a span of history, geographical locations and events that is intellectuallly staggering and nearly impossible to put down. These are the stories of the Oneida people "from the beginning" which trace their intentional wanderings over three continents including how they crossed what is probably the Bering Strait, explore the events and decisions that made them who they are, and record some of their tantalizing encounters with other people. These are also teaching stories and can be understood on many levels intellectually and emotionally, individually and collectively. They can be seen as a straighforward historical account; an absolute literary delight; the unfolding of a people's culture and society; a presentation of the development of individuality (ego); a process of learning how to learn; an anthropological exlposion of possibilities; the evolution of scientific experimentation and evaluation; a description of ordinary living in various times; stories of individual lives and commitments - and so much more. I have read "The Walking People" cover to cover at least a dozen times, each immersion bringing fresh and expanding comprehension. The language used and the physical presentation on the page combine to make reading this book a nearly "auditory" experience. It invites the reader to walk with these people through time, participating in their experiences, sharing the tears of their misjudgments, the joy in their masterful accomplishments, and the relief that the laughter at their predicaments brings. It is a most extraordinary glimpse into the perceptions and thinking of real people in ancient and historical times. It is very difficult to describe the deep psychological effect of perceiving the actual voices and syntax of people who lived thousands and thousands of years ago - suddenly, "history" becomes an intimate, personal reality. Almost understated in terms of today's world of extremism, rampant emotionalism and dramatic egotistical conflicts, these stories carry a haunting impact quietly hidden in the simple, direct telling that spares nothing. I have no doubt that these stories have been kept accurately for millenia. This is the first presentation I have found that is a sharing of one Native American people's heritage; it has been my experience that such depth has either been lost altogether or is usually carefully preserved as part of the private, heartfelt identity of the Original People of America. Paula Underwood's generous recounting of the Oneida oral tradition is a stunning and manumental achievement in language and scope of material, a very special and unique gift to whoever cares to explore its pages. "The Walking People" blows the western world's catalog of knowledge to the winds, tatters our self-imposed limits regarding what is possible and how the possible may be accomplished, and rebuilds hope in a positive way - provided we can perceive the possibilities contained inthis true epic saga. It is a sharing of the soul for the soul, touching the essence of us all.

Sad, beautiful, wonderful, wise, haunting, and totally relevant to our global issues of change. Destructive paths happen easily. Creative paths are contingent.

This is the book that has been on my nightstand for the past several months. I read several pages each night. It is a big book, over 800 pages, written like a poem, and almost impossibly precious. The wisdom between its covers is astounding. For what this book teaches is something we, at this time in history, desperately need to know: how to start anew after devastation. How to be a whole people after we've been reduced to fragments. It teaches that the wisdom is within us, to survive, to begin again, to thrive. Hallelujah.

Upon seeing the title of Sarah Hill's Book, "Weaving New Worlds: Southeastern Cherokee Women and Their Basketry," one might think this is a book only about Indian baskets or a how-to manual for making baskets. Both of these assumptions would be far from the truth. "Weaving New Worlds" is a broad, masterful compilation of research and expression of ideas on Cherokee culture. Put simply and without hyperbole, it is one of the best books one will find on Cherokee History.

The book focuses on what has become the Eastern Band of Cherokees in western North Carolina. Though Hill writes an excellent history of the Cherokees prior to their forced removal by the federal government in the late 1830s, she does not attempt to tell any aspect of the story of the Cherokees who settled in Oklahoma. The strength of her work is in the creative chronology she provides and in her description of the environment of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Hill divides her work into four chapters: Rivercane, White Oak, Honeysuckle, and Red Maple. These chapter names derive from the material Cherokee women used to weave their baskets. The author cleverly interweaves the shifts in Cherokee history with the shift in basket making and the materials from which the baskets were made.

The Prologue is a stand alone, worthy essay in itself. It describes with tremendous knowledge the plants and animals of the southern Appalachians and how the Cherokees used these resources. In reading Hills's Prologue, one feels they are diving into the nuts and bolts of history. There are parts of the Prologue and in Hill's writing on specific plants that are as good as historical writing gets.

It is rare to find a book this focused and replete with encyclopedic information. It is highly recommended for those interested in the history of the southern Appalachians, western North Carolina, or the Cherokees. Also, this book should be read by anyone vacationing to the Great Smoky Mountains. It will vastly increase one's understanding and appreciation of just what they are seeing when they cross into the nation's most visited national park.

This book is fantastic. Hill covers an array of subjects about Cherokee life, family, politics, beliefs, oral traditions, aesthetics - all relating to the central theme of basket-making. Well-researched and documented. While maintaining excellent scholarship, Hill write in a natural, understandable manner free of academic jargon. Essential to anyone studying Cherokee culture.

Using baskets, the oldest mother-to-daughter tradition still surviving among Cherokee women, Hill traces changes among Southeastern Cherokees and their environments over a 300-year period. Weaving New Worlds has just been awarded the Julia Cherry Spruill prize for the best book in Southern women's history published in 1997, and was described in the award as "beautifully written and brilliantly organized."

A reviewer in The Atlanta History Journal says this book is "destined to become a classic reference text to which future scholars of Native American material culture will always return." It is, the review continues, "keenly attuned to how basketry figures in the spiritual and material lives of the Southeastern Cherokee." I agree with the reviewer, but this book is more than a study of material culture, it is a history of women told by looking at their beautiful, enduring work with baskets. There is nothing like it for learning Southeastern Cherokee history.

This book is rich with geographical details of Wyoming and history of the Shoshone and Arapahoe people. O'Gara skillfully and lovingly describes the Wind River Valley like a sculptor shapes his beloved work. He is an excellent storyteller. What I loved most was O'Gara's deep attention to human relations, personal histories, and character. He always tells the tale with the human in the center. He never proselytizes or places blame. He doesn't demonize or romanticize. Also, the Native Americans are depicted as people, not political images or symbols. It's easy and fun to read, yet never strays from reality. I loved reading it. I wish more stories about Native Americans were told so warmly and truthfully.

Author Geoffrey O'Gara uses two decades of legal wrangles over control of the watershed on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation to explore two centuries of the collision between whites and Native Americans in the West. He accomplishes this feat in 300 pages by presenting the story as a human drama, focusing on the lives of individuals, living and dead, each with their own aspirations, history, and personality.

On the one hand are the white farmers who have settled legally within the boundaries of the reservation, "reclaiming" arid land with water provided by federally funded irrigation systems. On the other are the Indians of two tribes, Shoshone and Arapaho, historically antagonistic, reduced by over a century of conquest and together discovering a new-found strength to resist the will of state and federal governments. Among them are the college-educated, the young drop-outs, the old who still remember some of the lost Indian culture -- a wide range of people challenging easy ethnic stereotypes while at the same time representing the social ills that plague the reservations: poverty, unemployment, alcoholism. It is a Dickensian cast of characters.

A third group of key figures in O'Gara's story are the non-Indian professionals whose lives become entwined with reservation residents as the struggle over water rights heats up: engineers, hydrologists, conservationists, bureaucrats, lawyers and judges. The endless legal battles bring to mind Dickens' "Bleak House." Court decisions progressively yield more ground to the Indians, and appeals take the case against them all the way to the Supreme Court, yet after $50 million in legal fees, the issues remain unresolved.

While O'Gara makes an effort to maintain a journalist's objectivity throughout the book, his underlying sympathy is pretty clearly with the Indians, whom he gives the lion's share of the book to. Seeming to acquire privileged information in his interviews, he also points out that as a journalist he is often permitted to know what will best serve the Indians' purposes. He must still question its veracity and speculate about the rest, based on what seems to be extensive research in public records and historical accounts.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the American West, its history, cultures, geology, topography. The book is organized as a journey upstream, along the river's two main branches, into its headwaters in mountain glaciers. In fact, it's a good idea to have a map of Wyoming at hand for reference. As a companion to this book, I'd recommend Frank Clifford's "Backbone of the World," which explores some of this same subject matter and introduces readers to many other inhabitants up and down the Continental Divide.

O'Gara has masterfully woven together past, present and future in this rich account of the Wind River Basin, its people and their struggle for self preservation. O'Gara's intimate knowlege of the social, political, economic, legal, and geologic issues that converge in this complex and fascinating story is as impressive as it is vast. He describes the land with skillful and clear-eyed detail, and he tells the story with a respect and compassion that must only have come from someone who has lived in and loved the West for many years.

The author manages to guide the reader though a conflicting set of water resource issues on the most legally confusing of all landscapes... the Wind River Reservation. Lined up across the court-room aisle sit the anglo farmers who tap the river for irrigation and the native residents wanting to restore the "in-stream flows" to support the trout fishery. Its a conflict the author uses to drive the story forward, but is only a single thread of a much richer story. The author interleaves the battle over water rights with the history of both the Shoshone and Arapaho and the opening of land within the reservation for white settlers. The author's love of the Wind River Reservation is evident in his first hand accounts describing the area's geography and natural history. This book succeeds by tying together the story's long and interconnected threads into a comprehensive picture of water politics.

This is a chilling, true-life account of a childhood that should have never been, and 17 years of life that would forever haunt the author, Peter Razor. Peter, an intelligent boy that was raised in an orphanage as a ward of the state, then placed in an abusive indentured farm home had a childhood that is reprehensible, and sadly true. Supposedly protected by the state, Peter became a boy who flinched from physical contact, and had no understanding of what a normal happy home should be like. Unlike Peter Razor, not all children were lucky enough to survive the abuse that could be found in state orphanages when Peter was growing up. Corporal punishment went unchecked, and Peter, an American Indian, also had the added disadvantage of prejudice thrown in. Eventually placed on a farm, his placement was not carefully monitored, and the abusive treatment with this family was never noted by the social worker who was suppose to be monitoring Peter's placement. While the Locust Slept, a Minnesota Book Award Winner, is a compelling, well written tale that reads like a novel, yet is sadly a true tale of a horrific childhood that was unchecked by the state that was suppose to be protecting him

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Razor while on a trip to Cochiti Lake, New Mexico. After talking for a while he passed me a copy of his book and asked me to read it and then share it with others. I read the book cover-to-cover on the trip home and was amazed that the man I had talked to had once been the little boy in the book. Mr. Razor was a kind and gentle man that never revealed the scars from his childhood in any part of our conversations. America's inhumane treatment of the Indian people is well documented. This book offers graphic descriptions of individual cruelty that was fueled by ignorance and prejudice. I don't know if many human beings could have endured this sort of trauma and survived to be so kind. Peter is a truly incredible person and I would recommend his book to anyone.

My father as well was in the Owatonna "orphanage" which he termed as an "intournment camp/prison"! Babies and children were treated more tragically at this place than you could even imagine. Babies died for lack of "touch" and nurturing! Children were beaten, mauled, and oftentimes died as a result of such treatment. Peter Razor cites an insightfully true story of just SOME of the horific experiences of babies and children in this most insightful book on our country's past (AND EVEN PRESENT) ways of "Social Services" treating our "lost" children!! A MUST TO READ!

Like Peter I lived and went through total hell from a matron while I was in the same orphanage. After reading Peters book while the locust slept,I relived the same anger, as Peter indured.This book should be a must read by anyone,who plans on going into the socialwork field and know that this is truly a non fiction tragedy which happened.This is a story that took place a long time ago,but could still and does happen today.

White-Man-Runs-Him is an easy to read biography that includes a comprehensive history of Plains Indian tribes and a vanished way of life. The story of the Crow and US Army relations is poignant and revealing, though some of the truth has come out in other tellings of the Indian Wars stories. Well written and well documented.

This book provides unusual insight not only on the Battle of Little Bighorn, but also on the culture of the Crow Indians. It's very fact-filled and interesting. For all those who think that they understand everything that went on at the battle of Little Big Horn, and for those who are intriqued by the Crow Indians and their alliance with the U.S. military, this book is an exceptional read.

This book challenges the white male patriarchal version of events, but perhaps does not do so to a sufficient extent. However, this book is a valuable effort; highly recommended.

This well researched and fact based exploration of the Little Big Horn Battle presents alternative ways of understanding the event and its place in American history. The account is based on oral histories of the five Crow who were with Custer that day.